Kneading, mixing, and grinding machine



Dec. 28, 1954 E. A. REIFFEN KNEADING, MIXING AND GRINDING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 8. 1950 Inventor ZEIvsT Q fi/Fn-W Dec. 28, 1954 E. A. REIFFEN 2,693,144

KNEADING, MIXING AND GRINDING MACHINE Filed May 8, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inventor:

United States Patent O KNEADING, MIXING, AND GRINDINGv MACHINE Ernst A. Reiifen, Kass'el wilhelnishohe; Germany Application May 8, 1950, Serial No. 160,676

8 Claims. (Cl. 241-206) This invention relates'to akneading; mixing,.and grinding or refining machine.

.In the production of finely-ground chemical: and pharmaceutical preparations, dye stuff: paste and the like, operations are necessary which so far required the use of several machines.

It is an object of the present inventionto carry out allrequired operations in a singlemachineuinto which the initial materials areintroduced and from which the finished material is taken.

A special object of the invention is to provide.,amachine adapted to premix or convert'themass into paste, to mix, to grind or refine and to dissolve.

With this object in view, according to the present invention the container is driven by meanswof axgear with internal toothing comprising one or moreadriving pinions having an axial width extending over a substantial part of the-height of the container. Themass is ground-or refined between the surfaces of the:gear teeth intthe zone where the same are meshing. Moreover; the high/teeth of the pinion act as mixing blades. Through the .cooperationof the components of motion imparted to the. mass, very effective-mixing processes are-obtained. Another effective kneading and mixing-process isncaused bythe sudden acceleration locally imparted tO'sthe mass. by the increase-of pressure originating. from 'its displacement by the meshing of the teeth. Accordingv to the invention a flow'of the mass in thedirectionzof the=axis.:-'of the container-is favored by allowingithe mass .toiflow out freely in an upward and downward. directionfrom the gap between the teeth of theinternal gear of-'the container.

Other and further objects, features and advantages of the invention will be pointed out hereinafter and appear in the appended claims forming part' of theapplication.-

In the accompanying drawings several new preferred embodiments of the invention are shown by way of illustration and not by way of limitation.

Fig. 1 is a side view of the machine, partly in a vertical section through the container,

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on the line IIII of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a vertical section through the pinion on a larger scale, showing a special form of the internal gear of the container,

Fig. 4 is a plan view thereof, including a fragmentary section on the line IVIV of Fig. 3,

Fig. 5 is a side view of a modified form of the pinion,

Fig. 6 is a plan view thereof, and

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a modified form of the pinion.

Similar reference numerals denote similar parts in the different views.

Referring now to the drawings in greater detall, it will be seen that the container 1 is detachably connected with a revolving table 2 which is mounted for rotation in a socket 4, by means of a pivot 3. An internal gear serves for driving the container 1. To this end, the shell of the container is provided with an internal toothed rim whose teeth 11 extend in an upward direction, beginning at a certain distance from the bottom of the con tainer, through more than half of the height of thereutainer. This internal toothed rim meshes with a pinion 6 whose shaft 7 is mounted in a swingable arm 3 which in turn is hingedly mounted, by means of a pivot 9, 1n the pillar or column of the machine frame. Secured on the hinged arm 8 is the lid 12 of the container. The hinged arm 8 also bears the motor 13 and a variable gear 2 14 for driving the pinion 6' rotatingvin 'the same direction as'the container 1, as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 2. It is thus possible, for instance, to havelthe container rotate at a.lower,speed"when kneading the'mass and at a higher speediduring the further mixing,"dissolving or grinding operations.

Inorder to permit-increasing the resistance of the container against rotation and so to increase the pressure at the tooth surfaces meshingwith each other; a-shoe brake '15 is arranged at the revolving table-2. The pinion: 6 may be fixed eccentrically on'the pinionshaft 7 inorder to increase the grinding effectat the tooth surfaces. In Fig. 2 this eccentricity is marked. e. The teeth of the pinion on rotation thereof arethus imparted an additional radial movement in'relation to the toothed rim of the. container. The grinding effect may also be influenced by the shape of the teeth. For instance, as shownin Figs. 4 and 5, the pinion teeth 5 may have a head with a longitudinally extending semi-cylindrical surfaceand' theteeth of theinternal gear may have plane rectilinear surfaces, so'that the teeth do not simply roll off at the toothsurfaces, but simultaneously glideand thus exert a/grinding action.

Arranged at a suitable distance'above the pinion 6 is a :cover plate-l 16 which is approximately segmentshaped and mounted on the lid 12. This cover plate prevents'overflowing -of the mass, by deflecting the same towards the interior of the container. Thefiow of the mass .to .the zone'of' meshing of the gear. is additionally influenced by a stationary.bottomastripper 17 .which in the example shown in the drawing is carried by a bar 18 onthe' lid of .the'container. This stripper produces a stagnationbehind-the pinion,-whereby the flowing off of the.mixture-isuchecked. The sum of the distance betweenthe pinion 6 and-.the'bottom of the container plus/the distance between the pinion and'the cover plate 16 corresponds to atzleast half the height of the-pinion.

For its discharge,.the'container 1 can be removed from theturntablei 2 whenthe pinion is disengaged (see the swung-iout-position of'armb as indicated'in Fig. 1 in dot and'dash'lines). The' means forswinging'the'arm 8 are notshown, but they may be designed-in any conventional manner, e; g., in the form'of. a worm gear operated by a: hand -wheel.

According to a further feature of the invention the pinionservingtas amixing'device may simultaneously .be usedasa conveying means' for continuously discharging the mixingcontainer. To :this end, perforations 19 through the wall of the container are provided in one or more of the gaps'between'two teeth ofthe internal toothing of the container, which perforations may each be closed to the outside by a spring-acted flap valve 20 or another checek valve. As the teeth of the pinion are meshing with the internal toothing, they force the mixture through the perforations 19 into a stationary hopper 21.

In order to ensure a reliable engagement of the surfaces of the teeth on the whole length of the toothing, the teeth of the internal toothed rim of the container and/or of the pinion according to an additional feature of the invention are elastically mounted.

According to Figs. 3 and 4 each individual tooth 22 of the toothed rim is secured to a steel strip 23. The top and bottom ends of each steel strip in turn are secured to ledges 24 of the container wall.

Figs. 5 and 6 show a pinion with elastically mounted teeth 5. Each tooth is secured on a plate spring 25 engaged in a slot extending through the middle part of the tooth while the other end of said plate spring is secured in a slot or incision in a star-shaped hub 26. Thus the spring can be exposed to bending and torsional stresses so that the surfaces of the teeth of the pinion are able to cling tightly to the surfaces of the internal toothing of the container.

The grinding output can be doubled, according to a further feature of the invention, by forcing both surfaces of a pinion tooth, i. e. both the leading one in the direction of rotation of the pinion and the trailing one, into tight engagement under pressure with the countersurfaces of the internal toothing. To this end either the teeth of the pinion or those of the internal toothing are divided in their longitudinal middle plane and spread for elastic outward action.

Fig. 4 shows an internal toothing with divided teeth the two halves 27 and 28 of which are able to yield elastically in case of pressure upon their surfaces. The spaces 29 between adjacent teeth in this case are made smaller than the thickness of the teeth of the pinion, so that the latter will press apart the two tooth halves defining the gap into which the respective pinion engages. Thus, the front surface and the rear surface of each pinion tooth will come into tight engagement and exert a grinding action.

Fig. 7 shows a pinion with longitudinally divided teeth which are elastically spread apart when the pinion is rotating. To this end the hub of the pinion is divided in a horizontal plane. The upper half 30 of the hub of the pinion is fixedly connected to a hollow shaft 31 while the lower half 32 of the hub is fixedly connected to the shaft 7 which is passed through this hollow shaft. The upper half 30 of the hub bears the tooth halves 33 while the lower half 32 of the hub bears the tooth halves 34. The rotating shaft 7 drives the hollow shaft 31 through the hub and tooth halves. Inserted between the shafts 7 and 31 is a pre-loaded helical spring 36 tending to spread the tooth halves 33, 34 apart as far as the meshing tooth or teeth will permit.

While the invention has been described in detail with respect to certain now preferred examples and embodiments of the invention it will be understood by those skilled in the art after understanding the invention, that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and it is intended, therefore, to cover all such changes and modifications in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A mixing and grinding machine comprising a container having a vertical cylindrical wall and a bottom, means mounting said container for rotation about its vertical axis, a toothed gear member mounted on and extending over substantially the entire heighth of the inner surface of said cylindrical wall and having its lower edge spaced from said bottom, a vertical shaft extending into said container, a toothed pinion member eccentrically secured to said shaft and meshed over a substantial area in radial sliding and grinding contact with said gear member, and means for rotating said vertical shaft whereby said pinion member drives said container for the grinding of material in the container between the pinion and gear surfaces.

2. A mixing machine as in claim 1, further comprising means mounting the teeth on one of the toothed members for resilient engagement with the teeth of the other member.

3. A mixing machine as in claim 2, further comprising said toothed gear member extending from its lower edge to above the mid-point of said container and below the upper edge thereof.

A mixing machine as in claim 3, further comprising said toothed pinion member having an axial length less than the axial length of said toothed gear member, and being mounted between the upper and lower edges of said gear member.

5. A mixing machine as in claim 4, further comprising a horizontal cover plate mounted above and spaced from said toothed members for deflecting material forced upwardly by said pinion member back into said contamer.

of said container below the level of the lower edge of said toothed gear member, and means mounting said scraper in stationary position.

8. A mixing and grinding machine as in claim 1, further comprising semi-cylindrically shaped heads on the teeth of one toothed member, and plane rectilinear side surfaces on the teeth of the other toothed member, said teeth being meshed in contact with both of said side surfaces.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,456,694 Ingraham May 29, 1923 1,659,771 Fox Feb. 21, 1928 1,714,359 Gambon May 21, 1929 1,804,283 Sizer May 5, 1931 1,875,794 Zettergren Sept. 6, 1932 1,977,419 Adams et a1. Oct. 16, 1934 2,091,532 Strong et a1. Aug. 31, 1937 2,105,003 Morch Jan. 11, 1938 2,174,116 Bilocq Sept. 26, 1939 2,238,864 Pratt et al. Apr. 15, 1941 2,245,012 Robinson June 10, 1941 2,572,334 Guibert Oct. 23, 1951 2,600,117 Lamb June 10, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 177,995 Canada July 3, 1917 

